CWE-22 (对路径名的限制不恰当(路径遍历)) — Vulnerability Class 5197

5197 vulnerabilities classified as CWE-22 (对路径名的限制不恰当(路径遍历)). AI Chinese analysis included.

CWE-22 represents a critical input validation weakness where software fails to properly sanitize external input before constructing file paths. Attackers typically exploit this vulnerability by injecting directory traversal sequences, such as “../”, into user-supplied parameters. These malicious inputs allow the application to resolve file references outside the intended restricted directory, potentially granting unauthorized access to sensitive system files, configuration data, or source code. To mitigate this risk, developers must implement rigorous input validation techniques, ensuring that all path components are strictly checked against allowed characters and structures. Additionally, employing canonicalization to resolve symbolic links and relative paths before validation, combined with strict chroot jails or sandboxing, effectively confines file operations to designated directories, thereby neutralizing the potential for path traversal attacks and preserving system integrity.

MITRE CWE Description

The product uses external input to construct a pathname that is intended to identify a file or directory that is located underneath a restricted parent directory, but the product does not properly neutralize special elements within the pathname that can cause the pathname to resolve to a location that is outside of the restricted directory. Many file operations are intended to take place within a restricted directory. By using special elements such as ".." and "/" separators, attackers can escape outside of the restricted location to access files or directories that are elsewhere on the system. One of the most common special elements is the "../" sequence, which in most modern operating systems is interpreted as the parent directory of the current location. This is referred to as relative path traversal. Path traversal also covers the use of absolute pathnames such as "/usr/local/bin" to access unexpected files. This is referred to as absolute path traversal.

Common Consequences (4)

Integrity, Confidentiality, Availability Execute Unauthorized Code or Commands

The attacker may be able to create or overwrite critical files that are used to execute code, such as programs or libraries.

Integrity Modify Files or Directories

The attacker may be able to overwrite or create critical files, such as programs, libraries, or important data. If the targeted file is used for a security mechanism, then the attacker may be able to bypass that mechanism. For example, appending a new account at the end of a password file may allow …

Confidentiality Read Files or Directories

The attacker may be able read the contents of unexpected files and expose sensitive data. If the targeted file is used for a security mechanism, then the attacker may be able to bypass that mechanism. For example, by reading a password file, the attacker could conduct brute force password guessing a…

Availability DoS: Crash, Exit, or Restart

The attacker may be able to overwrite, delete, or corrupt unexpected critical files such as programs, libraries, or important data. This may prevent the product from working at all and in the case of protection mechanisms such as authentication, it has the potential to lock out product users.

Mitigations (5)

Implementation Assume all input is malicious. Use an "accept known good" input validation strategy, i.e., use a list of acceptable inputs that strictly conform to specifications. Reject any input that does not strictly conform to specifications, or transform it into something that does. When performing input validation, consider all potentially relevant properties, including length, type of input, the full range…

Architecture and Design For any security checks that are performed on the client side, ensure that these checks are duplicated on the server side, in order to avoid CWE-602. Attackers can bypass the client-side checks by modifying values after the checks have been performed, or by changing the client to remove the client-side checks entirely. Then, these modified values would be submitted to the server.

Implementation Inputs should be decoded and canonicalized to the application's current internal representation before being validated (CWE-180). Make sure that the application does not decode the same input twice (CWE-174). Such errors could be used to bypass allowlist validation schemes by introducing dangerous inputs after they have been checked. Use a built-in path canonicalization function (such as realpath(…

Architecture and Design Use a vetted library or framework that does not allow this weakness to occur or provides constructs that make this weakness easier to avoid [REF-1482].

Operation Use an application firewall that can detect attacks against this weakness. It can be beneficial in cases in which the code cannot be fixed (because it is controlled by a third party), as an emergency prevention measure while more comprehensive software assurance measures are applied, or to provide defense in depth [REF-1481].

Effectiveness: Moderate

Examples (2)

The following code could be for a social networking application in which each user's profile information is stored in a separate file. All files are stored in a single directory.

my $dataPath = "/users/cwe/profiles"; my $username = param("user"); my $profilePath = $dataPath . "/" . $username; open(my $fh, "<", $profilePath) || ExitError("profile read error: $profilePath"); print "<ul>\n"; while (<$fh>) { print "<li>$_</li>\n"; } print "</ul>\n";

Bad · Perl

../../../etc/passwd

Attack

In the example below, the path to a dictionary file is read from a system property and used to initialize a File object.

String filename = System.getProperty("com.domain.application.dictionaryFile"); File dictionaryFile = new File(filename);

Bad · Java

CVE ID	Title	CVSS	Severity	Published
CVE-2021-41151	Path Traversal in @backstage/plugin-scaffolder-backend — backstage	6.8	Medium	2021-10-18
CVE-2021-40724	Adobe Acrobat Reader Android Abritrary Code Execution Vulnerability — Reader Mobile	7.8	High	2021-10-15
CVE-2021-3874	Path Traversal in bookstackapp/bookstack — bookstackapp/bookstack	6.5	-	2021-10-15
CVE-2021-33178	Nagios 路径遍历漏洞 — NagVis	8.1	-	2021-10-14
CVE-2021-38452	Moxa MXview Network Management Software — MXview Network Management Software	7.5	High	2021-10-12
CVE-2021-33726	Siemens SINEC NMS 路径遍历漏洞 — SINEC NMS	7.5	-	2021-10-12
CVE-2021-33725	Siemens SINEC NMS 路径遍历漏洞 — SINEC NMS	9.1	-	2021-10-12
CVE-2021-33724	Siemens SINEC NMS 路径遍历漏洞 — SINEC NMS	9.1	-	2021-10-12
CVE-2021-33722	Siemens SINEC NMS 路径遍历漏洞 — SINEC NMS	4.9	-	2021-10-12
CVE-2021-42013	Path Traversal and Remote Code Execution in Apache HTTP Server 2.4.49 and 2.4.50 (incomplete fix of CVE-2021-41773) — Apache HTTP Server	9.8	-	2021-10-07
CVE-2021-41773	Path traversal and file disclosure vulnerability in Apache HTTP Server 2.4.49 — Apache HTTP Server	9.1	-	2021-10-05
CVE-2021-41103	Insufficiently restricted permissions on plugin directories — containerd	7.8	-	2021-10-04
CVE-2021-41294	ECOA BAS controller - Path Traversal-4 — ECS Router Controller ECS (FLASH)	9.1	Critical	2021-09-30
CVE-2021-41293	ECOA BAS controller - Path Traversal-3 — ECS Router Controller ECS (FLASH)	7.5	High	2021-09-30
CVE-2021-41291	ECOA BAS controller - Path Traversal-1 — ECS Router Controller ECS (FLASH)	7.5	High	2021-09-30
CVE-2021-36286	Dell SupportAssist Client 后置链接漏洞 — SupportAssist Client Consumer	7.1	High	2021-09-28
CVE-2021-24638	OMGF < 4.5.4 - Unauthenticated Path Traversal in REST API — OMGF \| Host Google Fonts Locally	9.1	-	2021-09-20
CVE-2021-3806	Path Traversal in Pardus Software Center — Pardus Software Center	5.3	Medium	2021-09-18
CVE-2021-39208	WriteEntryToDirectory used for an archive extraction is vulnerable to partial path traversal. — sharpcompress	4.3	Medium	2021-09-16
CVE-2021-23043	F5 BIG-IP 路径遍历漏洞 — BIG-IP	6.5	-	2021-09-14
CVE-2021-37532	SAP Business One 路径遍历漏洞 — SAP Business One	4.3	-	2021-09-14
CVE-2021-40357	Siemens Teamcenter Active Workspace 路径遍历漏洞 — Teamcenter Active Workspace V4.3	7.2	-	2021-09-14
CVE-2021-37200	Siemens SINEC NMS 路径遍历漏洞 — SINEC NMS	7.7	-	2021-09-14
CVE-2021-38360	wp-publications <= 0.0 Local File Include — wp-publications	8.3	High	2021-09-10
CVE-2021-25452	Samsung SMR 输入验证错误漏洞 — Samsung Mobile Devices	5.5	Medium	2021-09-09
CVE-2021-22704	多款 Schneider Electric 产品路径遍历漏洞 — Harmony/HMI Products Configured by Vijeo Designer (all versions prior to V6.2 SP11 ), Vijeo Designer Basic (all versions prior to V1.2), or EcoStruxure Machine Expert (all versions prior to V2.0)	9.1	-	2021-09-02
CVE-2021-36031	Magento Commerce Path Traversal In `theme[preview_image]` Parameter Could Lead To Remote Code Execution — Magento Commerce	7.2	High	2021-09-01
CVE-2021-39180	Path Traversal in Archive Handling Leading to Code Execution — OpenOLAT	8.1	High	2021-08-31
CVE-2021-37713	Arbitrary File Creation/Overwrite on Windows via insufficient relative path sanitization — node-tar	8.2	High	2021-08-31
CVE-2021-39316	ZoomSounds <= 6.45 Unauthenticated Directory Traversal and Sensitive Information Dislosure — ZoomSounds - WordPress Wave Audio Player with Playlist	7.5	High	2021-08-31

Vulnerabilities classified as CWE-22 (对路径名的限制不恰当(路径遍历)) represent 5197 CVEs. The CWE taxonomy describes the weakness; review individual CVEs for product-specific impact.